AwwwwRight...AwReady...

So what do these names have in common:
Overthinker/ DangerousBirds/ Veracity/ Sciatic/ OnTheRoad/ HighRoad/ Sticks&Stones/ Maven/ Rubystone/ SUMO/ TheBanshee/ BullByTheHorns/ HandOverFist/ ElHombre/ HeadHoncho/ Ingenuity/ TheMuldoon/ Nemesis/ Screwball/ CasualEncounters/ Resurrection/ S&M/ Authenticity/ TimeCapsuleDetente/ Odeon/ Unscripted/ Akasha/ Avenger/ TheTranscendentalist/Renegade/ Mordecai/ Celestus/ JerseyGirl/ Smoke&Mirrors/SteelPlow/ Gesture/Tomboy/ Kissin'CousinsWhite4/ CallToArms ????
They are all cutsey names for various Calif Rhone varietals & blends.
And it seems that Paso is the focus point for all these cutsey names.
Obviously, SQN was probably the originator of this tedious/tiresome trend. Do these winemakers think that, by using these cutsey names, some of the SQN aura will rub off on them?
I'm sure that these winemakers are so proud of themselves for inventing these cutsey names and behind each one lies a very profound and engaging story. So how many winedrinkers bother to look up or remember that story???
It's all a bit tedious and tiresome for my mind. I think we should all rise up and help stamp out this boring trend.

End of my Sunday afternoon rant for 2/19/12.
Tom (more than a bit cranky and pee-o'd after reading his latest WineSphincter)

Since when does Rhone-style wine producers (especially a Paso Rhone-style wine producer) “play by the rules” or “just go with the flow”? Some of those “cutesy” (I’ll even say some of them are quite “catchy”) names seem very “appropriate”. (If you like them or dislike them its easier to remember).

Salute

So what do these names have in common:
Overthinker/ DangerousBirds/ Veracity/ Sciatic/ OnTheRoad/ HighRoad/ Sticks&Stones/ Maven/ Rubystone/ SUMO/ TheBanshee/ BullByTheHorns/ HandOverFist/ ElHombre/ HeadHoncho/ Ingenuity/ TheMuldoon/ Nemesis/ Screwball/ CasualEncounters/ Resurrection/ S&M/ Authenticity/ TimeCapsuleDetente/ Odeon/ Unscripted/ Akasha/ Avenger/ TheTranscendentalist/Renegade/ Mordecai/ Celestus/ JerseyGirl/ Smoke&Mirrors/SteelPlow/ Gesture/Tomboy/ Kissin'CousinsWhite4/ CallToArms ????)

That I have never heard of any of them?
I'm not a big Cali guy, but I'm shocked that someone could come up with a list of almost 40 names without me recognizing one

[David M. Bueker]

Will somebody please get James Laube off of Tom's lawn!

So what are the odds? I posted yesterday I'd never heard of any of those, this afternoon I picked up Betsy's bows for her and the bowmaker gave me a bottle of Linne Calodo Sticks and Stones. Will open and report soon.

So what are the odds? I posted yesterday I'd never heard of any of those, this afternoon I picked up Betsy's bows for her and the bowmaker gave me a bottle of Linne Calodo Sticks and Stones. Will open and report soon.

Sorry, Dale. I guess I shoulda asked if anybody ever heard of Latour/Mouton/Lafite/RomaneeConti/LaTache. I screwed up big time.
Quite a coincidence, I'd say.
Tom

True story:

Coupla years ago I was asked to go to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area to be a featured speaker and wine judge.

After my gig I was talking to a young and rather slick (not in a good way) man who billed himself as a wine consultant. He wore a badge with his company name: SineQuaNon.

I asked him if he knew that there was a winery by that name. He said, "Yes, I do. It's pretty good wine too."

Sez I, "Aren't you concerned that there might be a confusion between being a consultant and having the same company name as the well-known winery?"

Sez he, with a smug smirk, "No. You see, MY company name is pronounced "Sin-NEK-wah-nahn!"

Hey I'm ITB and the only name I've seen before is Odeon and I can'remember where that wine was located. Hell, most of them taste the same anyway. Spoofed!

Didn't Bonny Doon start this trend with Le Cigare Volant, Old Telegram, Big House Red, and the like?

-Paul W.

Didn't Bonny Doon start this trend with Le Cigare Volant, Old Telegram, Big House Red, and the like?
-Paul W.

I would say that Randall probably started it...well before Manfred. But Manfred changes his name every vintage, though.
Unlike Randall.
Tom

Rod Berglund's into it, too - Cotes du Rosa, Jose's Rhose...

Don't the Aussies get some credit for this as well? "The Custodian", "The Fergus", "Stump Jumper", "Dead Arm", etc. (Not sure if they were ahead of Randall on this, but....)

Rod Berglund's into it, too - Cotes du Rosa, Jose's Rhose...

Au contraire, John.....maybe "cutsey"...but at least those name mean something. Not knowing exactly, I would guess
that "Cotes du Rosa" is Rod's Rhone-style blend. That "Jose'sRhose" is a rose in tribute of Joe.
I was railing against senseless/cutsey names. What do Screwball...TimeCapsuleDetente represent?? Haven't a clue.
Tom

[Jenise]

Didn't Bonny Doon start this trend with Le Cigare Volant, Old Telegram, Big House Red, and the like?
-Paul W.

I would say that Randall probably started it...well before Manfred. But Manfred changes his name every vintage, though.
Unlike Randall.
Tom

Hey, Randall Grahm's my new favorite winemaker. True story: just two and a half weeks ago, two friends and I conspired to open a magnum of Foillard Cote du Py at the bedside of one of our closest friends and wine buddies who was in a Hospice, dying. The bottle had been purchased to celebrate his recovery, and it was sadly time to share it with him in another way. He was going downhill fast. We invited another guy who used to be in our group but who now works for a distributor in Seattle, and at the last second he said hell yeah I'll drive all the way up there and do this (it's a 200 mile round trip). But before he could get out of the office, into his office walked Randall Grahm. So Jesse said sorry man, but I've got to go share a dying man's last glass of wine with him. Randall said, "Cool. I'll go with you." I couldn't attend after all so I wasn't there to see John's face when they introduced the stranger, but I was there the next day and able to tell you that I don't know what could have made John happier. Randall's a generous man.

[Jenise]

But aren't we all missing the point? These names aren't meant to attract/please those of us over 40. Or so. It's for the 20-something video game addicts who need something more compelling than "it's syrah".

[David M. Bueker]

But aren't we all missing the point? These names aren't meant to attract/please those of us over 40. Or so. It's for the 20-something video game addicts who need something more compelling than "it's syrah".

Au contraire Jenise, we are required to decry the lack of respect for the grand traditions of wine. I'll bet some of them even have screw caps instead of the de rigeur cork.

Hey, Randall Grahm's my new favorite winemaker. True story: just two and a half weeks ago, two friends and I conspired to open a magnum of Foillard Cote du Py at the bedside of one of our closest friends and wine buddies who was in a Hospice, dying. The bottle had been purchased to celebrate his recovery, and it was sadly time to share it with him in another way. He was going downhill fast. We invited another guy who used to be in our group but who now works for a distributor in Seattle, and at the last second he said hell yeah I'll drive all the way up there and do this (it's a 200 mile round trip). But before he could get out of the office, into his office walked Randall Grahm. So Jesse said sorry man, but I've got to go share a dying man's last glass of wine with him. Randall said, "Cool. I'll go with you." I couldn't attend after all so I wasn't there to see John's face when they introduced the stranger, but I was there the next day and able to tell you that I don't know what could have made John happier. Randall's a generous man.

Yup.....that sounds exactly like something Randall would do. Despite all his silliness and madcap marketing antics, Randall has a real/human/generous/warm
side to him that not many folks ever see. And his Mom, Ruthie, is from the same mold..and an absolute hoot.
Tom